Celebrate Halloween without trick-or-treat trash
At Halloween, many of us love to dress up, hit the pavement and get spooky. The magic of Halloween can also be wasteful and unnecessarily damaging to the environment.
Halloween doesn’t need to be a frightful waste, check out our tricks that will save the planet and your wallet!
Bring your own bag
Ready for a scary statistic? Aucklanders use 600 million non-biodegradable plastic bags a year. On average, a plastic bag is only used for 12 minutes.
Go plastic free and use your own re-useable bag when you’re out Halloween shopping.
Refusing plastic bags is the environmentally conscious choice whether it’s Halloween or a regular trip to the shops.
From fast fashion, to frightening, frugal fancy dress
Instead of buying a costume, and its plastic packaging, have fun exploring recycle shops or the back of your closet. Put together a mix of items to create the perfect outfit.
Kids love dressing up in the latest fads – costume swaps or renting them will save you money and the planet’s resources, while reducing textile and plastic waste.
Or make your own – create a Witch’s hat from recycled newspaper and cardboard or check out this plastic Halloween dress made from recycled plastic cups, plates and spoons.
Make your own treats
Buying bags of individually wrapped treats creates a huge amount of plastic waste.
Listen to the squeals of delight from your trick-or-treaters when you give them homemade Halloween treats! And some parents will thank you for taking the sugar-free route if you make small gifts to give away.
Upcycle your decorations
Forget plastic throwaway Halloween decorations. Bats, ghosts and ghouls can be made out of upcycled or biodegradable materials like cardboard and painted with non-toxic paints. Or make some 'Boo' lanterns from recycled tin cans. They cost less, reduce waste, and help kids get creative and into the spooky spirit.
Zero waste Halloween decorations are the easiest place to start. Using decorations from nature are interesting and free – get funky with pine cones, carve a jack-o-lantern from pumpkins and pineapples or make a watermelon brain.
Compost it!
What would be really scary this Halloween? Not composting your pumpkins!
If you don’t have an at home compost system, you can bury your pumpkins, pineapples and watermelons – they’re great for the soil. Learn how to divert more than just your pumpkins from landfill by joining one of Compost Collective’s fun workshops.
Want to know more about zero-waste?
We can all do more to re-use and reduce everyday, visit Make the Most of Waste.
